A look at the design, market and legacy of Victorian pottery

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Wedgwood's Leafage and Green Glazed Majolica

If you've collected majolica for any period of time you're very familiar with Wedgwood's green majolica ware. Many companies made green majolica but Wedgwood's are probably the most commonly found in the U.S.

These green plates have been in production at Wedgwood since 1757. They have simple designs that incorporate leaves and baskets. After Wedgwood began producing majolica in 1861 these green Wedgwood pieces were sold under the majolica banner. They are ubiquitous and a standard for decorators and other fans of country interiors.
Most of these designs belong to a grouping of foliate themed majolica Wedgwood called Leafage. But since the invention of majolica Wedgwood also began to produce full color versions of these same Wedgwood patterns.


They are significantly less common than the solid green plates and less collected too, but they are beautiful patterns that deserve their day in the sun.


















Not part of the Leafage series but certainly found more frequently in solid green glaze than full color are the Wedgwood sunflower plate and the two Wedgwood fruit plates.







As I mentioned at the beginning, all of these plates are commonly found only in monochromatic green majolica, and quite popular at that. The full color versions are actually rather rare but as you can see they can be stunning in their beauty and well worth looking for.

4 comments:

  1. Hello, What more can you tell me about the pieces in the bottom two images.
    I have the same pattern, but entirely in a creamy white colour. Name of pattern? Approximate date? Value? In excellent condition with fine overall crazing. The impressed 4 digit code on bottom is difficult to discern. Looks like a OS23 or DS33. Any help from this description would be greatly appreciated. Can sent an image if required.

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    Replies
    1. The shape doesn't have a particular name that we know of but is part of the large Wedgwood Leafage series. These generally do not have pattern names that were recorded in the pattern books. If glazed entirely in white they are certainly not majolica.

      We're not familiar with this particular pattern in white but Wedgwood made almost all of their shapes in a number of different bodies including bone and decorated earthenware. The particular codes that you describe do not sound like Wedgwood marks but it's really difficult to tell without seeing them. If you can direct us to images online we'll be happy to give you whatever information we may have.

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  2. hi i bought the very first item here today
    it has b129 on the back
    is it of value

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  3. Just discovered your site today and am getting educated. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete